Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In 2014 I took the following excerpts from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights-feature/ in honour of Human Rights Day on December 10.

In 1946, John Humphrey, a Canadian law professor with one arm appalled by Nazi Germany’s violation of human rights during the Second World War, became director of the United Nations Division on Human Rights, and Eleanor Roosevelt was named as the United States representative to the Commission.

Humphrey began drafting an international bill of rights in 1947 as the Cold War took shape, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. As it trampled on the jurisdiction of the provinces Canada abstained before allowing our representatives to side with the overwhelming majority of states that voted in approval, and serious abuses regularly continue.

Harvard University professor of law Mary Ann Glendon said, “It is ultimately up to us whether we build upon or waste the legacy left” by those who “strove to bring a standard of right from the ashes of terrible wrongs."

I agree. It is why I have campaigned with and been a member of Amnesty International for decades.

 

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS - PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,


Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,


Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,


Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,


Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,


Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,


Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,


Now,Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.